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Avon Cutting 400 Employees, Exiting Ireland

The beauty company continues its $400 million makeover.

Avon Products (NYSE:AVP) plans to lay off more than 400 full-time employees and exit Ireland as part of its $400 million cost-cutting initiative, the company announced today.

This most recent move comes one month after the company raised $1.5 billion through a public offering and refinanced $1 billion of debt to better balance its books.

In a statement today, CEO Sheri McCoy said: "We continue to work aggressively toward turning around the business. The steps outlined today take us closer to our cost-savings goal. At the same time, we remain focused on continuing to streamline the business and driving top-line growth."

Avon expects the layoffs (equivalent to 1% of its total workforce) and the exit from Ireland to be completed by the end of 2013 with a total pre-tax cost of $35 million to $40 million. Avon will record a $20 million hit for Q1 2013, but ultimately expects its efforts to save around $45 million to $50 million per year by 2016.

Today's announcement names markets in Europe and the Middle East and Africa as uderperforming. Avon products are available in more than 100 countries and are sold through more than 6 million active independent Avon sales representatives.